Support surfaces, or mats, are commonly used for roadways, remote jobsites, industrial staging areas, spill containment areas and/or other purposes in an ever-increasing myriad of industries, such as construction, military, energy (e.g. pipeline, oilfield, etc.), mining, chemical, transportation, disaster response, utilities and entertainment. In many instances, the support mats may be used in weight-bearing scenarios and/or may be subject to any among a variety of stresses and/or weather conditions.
To help provide sufficiently strong, durable, long-lasting or weather-resistant support mats, it is often desirable and/or important to reinforce the mat during the manufacturing process or thereafter. For example, some varieties of support mats are constructed of multiple sections, or panels. In many instances, it may be beneficial to reinforce such mats over and/or proximate to seams formed between the different sections, or panels, of the mat. Reinforcing a multi-panel mat over or proximate to the seam(s) formed between adjacent sections, or panels, may, for example, strengthen the mat at or near the reinforced location, enhance the overall strength and integrity of the mat, provide a substantially or entirely fluid-tight seal at the reinforced location, enhance or improve the aesthetic appearance of the mat, a combination thereof or any other purpose.
It should be understood that the above-described examples, features and capabilities are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope or subject matter of this disclosure, the appended claims or those of any related patent application or patent. Thus, none of the appended claims or claims of any related application or patent should be limited by the above discussion or construed to address, include or exclude each or any of the above-cited features or capabilities merely because of the mention thereof herein.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved systems, articles and methods useful for reinforcing multi-panel support mats having one or more of the attributes or capabilities described or shown in, or as may be apparent from, the other portions of this patent.